


The Butterfly Effect.

by Queen_of_ships12



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Dream Team - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF, mcyt
Genre: Blood and Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Needs A Hug, Except Techno, Fluff and Angst, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, I Cba Tagging All The Friendships, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, Major Character Injury, Maybe - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possible Character Death, Sapnap is a fucking drama queen, Serial Killers, Sorry Not Sorry, THEY’RE ALL FRIENDS, Tags Are Hard, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, You Might Get Stabbed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:27:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27678055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_of_ships12/pseuds/Queen_of_ships12
Summary: The SMP get sucked into a horror game... movie? A place where the butterfly effect is the decider of their fates.And much like the games, there are little details, little hints, the characters can discover to rescue their’s or another’s life. However, if they skip past these helpful tools, the consequences could be catastrophic.The only difference? This place doesn’t have a reset button.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch
Comments: 29
Kudos: 146





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There will be relationships in this story, but they aren’t the main plot, so while the characters will have moments to figure out their feelings for each other, they won’t be long.
> 
> The ships will be as follows: DreamNotFound, SkepHalo and KarlNap.  
> I don’t know if any of the other YouTubers are comfortable with shipping, so I don’t want to overstep their comfort zone. I am solely sticking to their Minecraft personas because I know how strange shipping real people is - I’m not saying you have to stop, since it’s none of my business, but do bear in mind the emotions of the people you ship. Do not force it on them, and do not pick on them for not liking it. They’re human. (I had to tag the ship Zak and Daryl because their personas don’t have a ship tag.)
> 
> P.s. I only watch a few of these YouTubers, and I’ve seen glimpses of everyone else, so if their characters aren’t spot on know it’s because 1) I’m not them so I’m not gonna get it perfect and 2) I probably have no fucking clue who they are outside the YouTubers I watch... so...
> 
> Apart from that, I hope you enjoy! Midnight brainstorms, am I right?

Rip to the remainder of my functioning brain cells.

—————

The unmistakable hiss of a tea kettle snapped George out of his daze, and for a moment he glanced around to make sure he wasn’t receiving a surprise visit from his unofficially asthmatic friend. There was no mistake, he was alone -damn, lonely- and it was _his_ kettle making the noise. Had he not put in enough water? Oops.

George reached out and pulled the kettle off of the heating element so he could pour more cool water in via the tap. He turned when his kitten leapt onto the kitchen table, nudging his forearm while mewling for attention. He was so much like Luca, similar appearance and the same attitude, but at the same time, they were completely different. “Hey, Kitty. Hungry?”

The silver-coated kitten stared up at him with his abnormally large eyes, silently giving him the answer to his question.

“Okay.” George returned the kettle and moved to the kitten’s bowl, emptying the fowl contents of tinned cat food into the pot. He had to refrain from throwing up when his kitten nose-dived into the meal like it was a godsend. “You aren’t licking my face for a month.” Ignoring the feline’s rude response, George finished his cup of tea whilst reading a message he received from Dream seconds ago.

_Dream: Morning! Afternoon? Whatever. —11:34 am_

_George: It’s half eleven. What time is it there? —11:34 am_

_Dream: Dunno. —11:35 am_

_Dream: Six. —11:35am_

George rolled his eyes and sat down on his sofa, curling in on himself as his heater whirred to life. His apartment was cold enough to house penguins, but he left the heating on last night so it shouldn’t be. He’d have to get it checked at some point. In the meantime, he breathed in the steam from his cup of tea, relying on that to increase his body temperature.

_George: My apartment is an igloo. —11:37 am_

_Dream: My house is warm :) —11:37am_

_George: Fuck you. —11:38 am_

_Dream: Love you too, Georgie! —11:38 am_

_Dream: But seriously, call the heater guy or whatever you call it. —11:38 am_

George choked on his tea.

_George: The heater guy!? —11:39 am_

_Dream: Boilerman! Jesus Christ! —11:39 am_

George shook his head with amusement, perking up slightly when his phone rang with BadBoyHalo’s name appearing at the top. He answered out of curiosity; they were friends, but they didn’t usually call each other, so George was instantly intrigued. “Bad?”

 _“Morning, George!”_ BadBoyHalo shouted in greeting. _“Say hi to the stream!”_

“Stream?” George repeated disbelievingly. “Bad, it’s six in the morning over there. Who the hell is awake at six in the morning?”

 _“A lot of people!”_ BadBoyHalo said defensively. _“What time do you wake up, you Muffinhead?”_

“I wake up at eight, like a normal person,” George said. “And stop calling me a Muffinhead. You’re calling me a dickhead in BadBoyHalo language.”

_“George!!! Language!”_

“You are!”

_“No!!! I’m not! Muffinhead is a nice name!”_

“My birth name is also a nice name.” George chuckled at BadBoyHalo’s speechless scoff. “Well, I have to go. Have fun with your stream.”

_“You didn’t even say hi!”_

“Hi, bye!” George said quickly, ending the call with a wide smile on his face. He could hear BadBoyHalo’s string of complaints from Britain but chose to ignore them in favour of responding to his best friend.

_Dream: Where’d you go? —11:41 am_

_Dream: Did the boiler man kill you? —11:42 am_

_Dream: Georgeeee. —11:44am_

_Dream: Oh, Bad kidnapped you. —11:46 am_

_George: Bad did not kidnap me. —11:46 am_

_Dream: You’re such a liar. —11:47 am_

_George: Whatever. I’m going to give the love of my life some attention. —11:47 am_

_Dream: You already are! —11-47am_

_Dream: George! George, come back! —11:48 am_

The iPhone vibrated like mad the minute George set it on the small tabletop face down, but he brushed off the irritating sound as his kitten and his puppy leapt onto the sofa demanding his attention.

Half an hour was all that passed when the messages stopped burning out his phone - whether it was because Dream finally managed to break his phone or he stopped spamming was the million-dollar question.

A loud crash from George’s bedroom stopped him from picking up his mobile, and although it was a cliché ass thing to do, he slipped off the sofa when he noticed a certain feline was no longer with him and his puppy and went to investigate.

“Kitty, I’ve told you before not to climb my desk,” George scolded, pushing the ajar door open the rest of the way. “Kitty?” His screen was knocked over on his desk, but his kitten wasn’t near the console or in the room by the looks of it. He took a moment to search the rest of his apartment for the feline before venturing further into his room. “Kitty, where are you?”

An exasperated sigh left George’s lips. He walked over to his computer and lifted the screen back up, thankful there was no visible damage to it. He’d check if it still worked properly later, but first, he wanted to find the miscreant who pushed it over. “Kitty, come out.” 

First, he checked under the bed, but there was still no sight of him.

“You’re not even that small anymore,” George muttered under his breath, returning to his feet. “How the hell are you this good at hiding?”

A sharp series of barks from his puppy caught George off-guard. “What are you barking at?” He turned around and exhaled painfully as an enormous weight slammed into his chest, cracking the back of his skull against the wall a distance behind him. He dropped to the floor with a distant thud, and then his vision was nothing but dark.

—————————————

Dream huffed impatiently for the fifth time that afternoon, but it didn’t make a response from George’s phone appear any faster. He didn’t know whether to be worried or annoyed, so he was going through both emotions at the same time and it was killing him. His friend could be in trouble, but at the same time, he could be intentionally ignoring Dream as some kind of dickish prank.

He was going to stab a bitch if it was a prank.

Then again, pranks from George didn’t usually last this long, and it’d been hours since his last received message from the latter, so he decided to call Wilbur. If there was anyone who could check up on George, it would have to be the person who lived closest to him.

_“Hello?”_

“Wilbur, can you do me a favour?”

 _“Hi to you too, Dream.”_ The sarcasm rolled of Wilbur’s tongue with ease. _“What is it?”_

“George isn’t responding to my texts,” Dream said. “Can you check on him?”

_“Aww, are you worried about your boyfriend, Dream?”_

A light blush dusted over Dream’s cheeks whilst he glared at his phone screen. More specifically, the image on the phone screen.

_“I’m not far from his street so I’ll call in. You guys fall out or something?”_

“No, he just stopped texting me.”

_“How long ago was that?”_

“A few hours.”

 _“Jesus, Dream. Work on your timing.”_ A distant car door slammed shut seconds before there was a buzzing noise. And then another buzzing noise. Wilbur sighed agitatedly, pressing another buzzer.

_**“Hello?”** _

_“Hi, Maya. It’s Wilbur. Can you let me in? I’m worried about George.”_

_**“Oh, of course!”** _

“Worried about George, huh?” Dream repeated with a smirk.

 _“Shut it, Dream. You’re not his only friend.”_ Another moment of silence greeted them as Wilbur ventured through the apartment complex until he reached George’s floor. _“Hi, Maya. Sorry about this. Do you still have his spare key?”_

Maya’s voice was muffled slightly, probably because the phone wasn’t on speaker, but Dream didn’t need to hear what they were talking about so long as Wilbur checked on George.

 _“George?”_ Wilbur called, shutting his apartment door behind him. _“George, you in here?”_ A break of silence. _“Well, I know why he didn’t get your messages.”_

“Why?” Dream asked.

 _“He doesn’t have his phone with him,”_ Wilbur stated. _“It’s on the coffee table and full of notifications. You need to stop blowing up his phone, you attention deprived man-child.”_

Dream rolled his eyes. “I’m not attention deprived. Is George there?”

 _“Sure...”_ A second door opened and both a bark and a sharp hiss drifted through the speakers. _“Doesn’t look like he’s here. Maybe he went for a jog?”_

“George? A jog?” Dream scoffed. “In what universe? Did Maya even see him leave?”

Wilbur hummed. _“No. Look, he’ll come back later so I’ll wait here for him. I’ll text you as soon as I see him.”_

“Fine,” Dream resigned. “But straight away. No drinks first!”

Wilbur rolled his eyes and ended the call. His scream fell on deaf ears.

————————————————

Hours later, Dream was certain everyone was pranking him, and he hadn’t been finding it funny. All of his friends were ignoring his texts, so he’d texted Wilbur about it only to find that he was also in on the prank. Great.

Patches jumped up on Dream’s lap and nuzzled her head against his palm, attempting to soothe Dream’s racing thoughts. He smiled down at her thankfully, but his concern and irritation were stronger than his feelings of affection at the time.

His opportunity to send any one of them another text went out the window when a blunt object collided with the back of Dream’s head, slamming his face down on his keyboard as he drifted in and out of the fog clouding his mind.

The blurred shape of a mist-like tentacle crept into Dream’s peripheral, and then the dark shadows swallowed his vision whole.

————————————

“...m.”

“..eam!”

“Dream!”

Dream’s eyes snapped open with a sharp intake of breath. “George?”

——————————————————

I didn’t think I’d post this, and I’ll probably delete it in the morning depending on how you guys like it, but since I’m tired, I’m going to avoid giving a fuck and post it anyway. Enjoy?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (You people liked this so far so here’s part two. :) This time, I did this instead of doing school work.)

A pulsing throb dragged George back to consciousness, eyes blearily focusing on his surroundings. The dark oak planks on the second floor, the rough carpet rubbing uncomfortably against the back of his neck, the— wait. What?

George leapt into a seated position and took in the room with a clearer head. “What the hell!?” He shouted.

“What!?” A distant shout caught George’s attention, and with it came a young woman with a paranoid pair of chestnut eyes. “What is it? Did you see them!?”

“Them?” George repeated. “Them who?”

The woman gasped dramatically. “Oh, guys! Guys, it’s happened to George too!”

“How do you know my name?” George questioned, eyes locking onto the group forming behind her from the same room she had been in. His jaw slacked when a familiar face emerged with them. “Bad?”

BadBoyHalo’s face lit up like the Fourth of July at the sight of someone familiar. “George!” He squirmed out of the two men holding him hostage and stood closer to George’s side. “These people are crazy! All they talk about is their two missing friends and a serial killer! A serial killer, George!”

George grabbed BadBoyHalo’s hands to stop the world around him from shaking like an earthquake was around the corner. “Serial killer?”

“They do remember!” The young woman breathed a sigh of relief. “Guys it’s okay, they remember.”

The group relaxed, shoulders dropping and smiles rising as they offered BadBoyHalo and George a cup full of a creamed, steaming liquid.

George took it hesitantly, eyeing the dark brown liquid inside the cup. He knew it was hot chocolate, albeit a little... chocolatey, but he’d been taught not to trust strangers with his drinks.

Luckily, a loud bang ricocheted off the cabin walls, and with it went one of the men that had been stood behind the young woman as a sort of guard. Both BadBoyHalo and George stared at the barren spot with fear. Was everyone going to start disappearing?

The group didn’t seem fazed and ran upstairs while calling the name of someone else they knew. “Techno!”

George and BadBoyHalo shared a look. “No way.”

“Yes way,” BadBoyHalo retorted, chasing after the group while George put down his cup of hot chocolate. He made to follow after BadBoyHalo, but something caught his eye from his peripheral, turning his attention to a red butterfly fluttering in through a blizzard outside the nearest window.

George walked over to the struggling creature and held out his hand, taking hold of the butterfly while subconsciously locking the window shut — why the hell did they have windows open in a blizzard? He covered the butterfly with both hands and a sharp pain coursed through his veins, tearing his vision away from the place he was currently in.

_A window shattered as a hefty axe tore through the frost-coated glass, resulting in their friends scrambling to see what happened, and a fatal blow to the back of the head when BadBoyHalo distracted—_

George staggered back, dropping the butterfly in surprise only to find it could now fly perfectly well on its own. It vanished through the doorframe of a neighbouring room just as BadBoyHalo and Technoblade emerged from the staircase with wide eyes.

“George!” BadBoyHalo shouted. “You worried us! Are you okay?”

George nodded, greeting Technoblade with a smile. “Yeah,” He said.

“I think I’ve seen this place before,” Technoblade stated. “In a game I’ve played.”

“You’re telling me we were just kidnapped by a video game?” George asked incredulously, receiving a nod in response. “Fine. Humour me, what game?”

“I don’t remember the name,” Technoblade admitted. “But there was something that played a major part in whether or not all of us survived.”

“You mean we could die here!?” Bad cried.

“Well, that’s a little dramatic, Bad!” The young woman giggled, returning to the main room with her three friends following behind her. “We’re safe in the cabin.”

“Really? Then why did you have one of your windows open during a blizzard?” George quizzed.

“What?”

“Some butterfly came in looking for a way out of the cold,” George told Technoblade and BadBoyHalo. “There was a weird change of scenery and then the butterfly was fine.”

Technoblade’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of change?”

“Look out!!!”

The trio turned and found Skeppy laid on top of the young woman, who was screeching and clawing at the floorboards in a desperate attempt to escape, screaming about Skeppy attempting to murder her.

“Skeppy!” BadBoyHalo said happily, moving to help the latter onto his feet. “It’s just Skeppy!”

The young woman’s screams came to a halt and she exhaled deeply. “Thank goodness,” She muttered. “Don’t scare me like that, Skeppy! It isn’t funny!”

“Wha...?”

“She knows who we are,” BadBoyHalo supplied. “We don’t know her, but she tries to lock you up if you tell her that so shh!”

Skeppy nodded slowly, shifting his gaze to George and Technoblade. “You guys too?”

George shrugged. “Looks like it,” He said. “And if that weird vision I had told me anything, the others are coming too.”

“All of them?”

“Well, most of them.”

“George!” Everyone turned in time to see Wilbur barrel in through the kitchen, surprising them all while he stormed over to George and punched him in the arm. “That’s for making us worry! Dream had me go all the way to your house to find you, and then I got dragged away by some tentacle creature!”

“Yeah, well I’m pretty sure it gave me a lethal concussion, so stop your complaining,” George said exasperatedly.

BadBoyHalo smiled with amusement as his friends continued to bicker, words fading into the background as he walked over to the window George was talking about previously, a nagging feeling in the back of his mind telling him to find something. He narrowed his eyes through the frosty window and looked around, catching the glimpse of a shadow in the distance. It might’ve seemed further away than in actuality with all the snow blocking his view. “Guys, I think someone’s watching us.”

Technoblade appeared at BadBoyHalo’s side, following his gaze. They both watched as the shadow took a step back, vanishing into the midst of the heavy snowstorm. If there was someone out there he wouldn’t be healthy for much longer. “Bad, how did you get here?” He questioned, recalling the latter stating he was the first in the cabin with the strangers.

BadBoyHalo shrugged. “I woke up on the sofa and they told me I decided to take a nap after the long journey up,” He informed. “Why?”

Technoblade turned to the others. “Bad is seeing this place from the player’s point of view,” He said. “The player usually has to go through the sequence of getting up to the cabin, but Bad skipped all that and came from the part where the main character falls asleep.”

“What does that mean for Bad?” Skeppy asked worriedly.

“I don’t think it means anything,” Technoblade said. “Only the player sees the butterflies, but when Bad ran upstairs to find me, it was George who found the butterfly.”

“The butterfly effect?” Wilbur asked. “We’re stuck in a game with the butterfly effect? Fuck. We’re screwed.”

George rolled his eyes. “Don't be melodramatic.”

Wilbur glared at him in response.

The front door slammed open, startling a feminine scream out of BadBoyHalo that got Skeppy sniggering. Emerging from the blizzard came Tommy and Tubbo, who were both shaking little shitting dogs in their plain t-shirts and trousers.

BadBoyHalo and Skeppy rushed off to grab them some fluffy blankets, and their safely-made hot chocolate, while Technoblade locked the front door.

George and Wilbur took the initiative of making sure all windows and doors in the building were locked shut, taking a large collection of keys from the kitchen draws in case the windows or doors happened to need them. 

Their journey was fairly silent until Wilbur sliced the atmosphere with a butcher knife. “Your boyfriend was really worried about you, you know.”

George paused, catching the key with his other hand before it collided with the countertop. “He isn’t my boyfriend,” He said firmly, a cherry blush dancing across his face. He cleared his throat, making sure the window was locked. “Thanks for coming to check on me.”

Wilbur shrugged it off with a small smile. “What are friends for?” He returned to George after locking the door and barricading it with some drawers he found nearby. “This side of the house is all clear. Should we go to the other one?”

“Yeah.” The pair of them started their walk across the top of the staircase. Their friends were in the living room through the doorway to the left of the main room, so they couldn’t see them from where they were. “Tell me about the butterfly effect.”

“You don’t know about it?” Wilbur questioned.

“Do I look like I research butterflies in my spare time?”

“Touché.” Wilbur chuckled. “The butterfly effect, in short, is where one action that seems small at the time can have drastic effects on the future. Like, if a butterfly flapped its wings weeks earlier than it was supposed to.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t make it any less true,” Wilbur said. “Just keep an eye out for butterflies.”

George sent Wilbur a side-glance. “I found a red butterfly earlier,” He stated. “Then I had this vision about someone breaking in with an axe.”

Wilbur blinked. “And you didn’t mention this earlier because...”

“I did,” George said defensively. “You just weren’t here.”

The lights overhead fizzled suddenly, plummeting the pair into nothing but a dark hallway.

“Are you kidding me?” Wilbur shouted. “This stupid house is bigger than a millionaire’s mansion and yet somehow the power is shit!?”

George snorted. “Should we go to the others or fix the power?”

“Since we’re not dumb characters in a video game,” Wilbur drawled, dragging George back the way they came. “We’re going to find the others.”

Tubbo perked up when the pair returned, looking more life-like than when he arrived. “Hey! You guys are okay!”

“Someone has to go and fix it,” Technoblade said.

“Dude,” Tommy said, shooting Technoblade a dumbfounded look. “I didn’t know words of stupidity could come out of your mouth.”

Technoblade glared daggers into Tommy’s skull.

“Children,” Wilbur called loudly. “Technoblade and I will fix the lights. The rest of you stay in here, got it?”

BadBoyHalo fidgeted nervously. “Um... how about we bake a cake?” He gained everyone’s attention as Wilbur and Technoblade slipped out of the room. “I saw some baking equipment in the kitchen. It’ll occupy us until the others come back.”

Skeppy smiled softly. A fondness coming over him as he moved to stand at BadBoyHalo’s side, taking his hand reassuringly. “That sounds like a great distraction.”

Tubbo grinned. “I bagsy the green frosting!”

Wilbur chuckled, hearing Tubbo’s overly-excited shout from down the hall. He and Technoblade ventured out of the front door, locking it behind them, and started on their trip to the back of the house where the powerhouse was — according to Technoblade’s memory. “You’re sure it’s out there and not in the basement or something?”

“I’m sure,” Technoblade said. “We should be careful, though. Bad and I saw something out here earlier.”

Wilbur nodded. “Creepy horror game bullshit.”

“I’m wondering why we were brought here in the first place,” Technoblade admitted. “It takes a lot to drag real people into a virtual reality.”

“Uh, how about, it shouldn’t even be possible?” Wilbur corrected. “This is probably just a bad dream or something.”

“You want to stand out here and test that theory for yourself?” Technoblade opened the door to the powerhouse and disappeared inside, leaving Wilbur out in the snow to chase after him.

Neither noticed the figure shuffling towards them through the knee-deep snow, a steel axe clenched firmly in their leather-gloved hand.

————————————

“Ha!” Tubbo exclaimed, holding up his cake slice victoriously. “Mine is superior! All of you can bow down!”

“Shut up, Tubbo!” Tommy snapped. “Everyone knows mine is better than that piece of shit!”

“Language!” BadBoyHalo scolded.

“Seriously, Bad?” Skeppy sighed into his palm.

George sat at the dinner table, munching on a cupcake he had finished baking half an hour ago, watching everyone argue with each other. He had tried to break up the fight at first but gave up when a blob of icing smacked Tubbo and himself in the face. He didn’t want to be dragged into a food fight. (He got dragged into it anyway.)

“What the hell?”

George turned to Wilbur with an amused smirk. “Feel like joining, Wilbur?”

Tommy launched a handful of icing at Wilbur, but the attack was evaded and got Technoblade on the mouth instead.

Silence fell over the room.

Skeppy cleared his throat nervously. “Uh... you fixed the power.” He gestured to the lights whirring softly above their heads.

Technoblade wiped the icing off his face, hand twitching towards his belt despite there no longer being a sword at his hip. “We know.”

Wilbur stifled a smirk while walking over to George and stealing one of the many cupcakes he had baked successfully. “Hm. Not bad.”

George held one out to Technoblade. “Eat up,” He said. “It’ll keep you warm and energised.”

Technoblade couldn’t argue with that fact and took the cupcake, offering George a grateful nod before consuming the treat.

“Do you think anyone else is coming?” BadBoyHalo asked quietly, sitting at the table with a frown spread across his features. “I mean, I’m glad they’re safe... but I miss them.”

A ring of screams snatched the group’s attention. The sound had come from upstairs much like the bang had when Technoblade arrived.

“Bad!” Skeppy scolded, stealing away the large knife BadBoyHalo somehow acquired when their backs were turned.

“Skeppy, we need something to protect ourselves!”

“You’re the one who summoned Satan with your sentiment,” George said, sipping his hot chocolate calmly. “Sapnap screams like a girl.”

“I _heard_ that!” Sapnap barrelled into the room with Karl’s hand laced tightly within his own. He pointed an accusing finger in George’s direction. “You ignored my calls!”

“Yeah, sorry, I was a bit busy being kidnapped,” George said apologetically. “I’ll get back to you eventually.”

Sapnap huffed. “Where the hell are we anyway?? And why is it snowing!?”

“Snow isn’t uncommon in winter,” Technoblade stated.

“It’s November!”

“Okay, Sapnap,” Wilbur interrupted, massaging his temples. “Shut the fuck up. You’re giving me a headache.”

Karl rubbed Sapnap’s back comfortingly. “Panicking won’t solve anything,” He said. “Why don’t we all take a breath?”

Tommy and Tubbo shared a look but refrained from saying anything, knowing smirks on each of their faces.

George took a dramatic breath before standing up and walking out of the room, muttering about taking a breather. He noticed a cable phone on the wall near the front door, knowing it wasn’t going to work because they never do, and decided to humour the game’s plot by picking up the phone. He paused after a moment of thought. Were they in Britain or America? He glanced around for a telltale clue, eyes landing on a picture that spread a victorious grin across his face. “9-1-1...”

The phone dialled, and dialled, and— _“Hello 9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”_

George choked on his hot chocolate. “Wait what?”

_“Do you have an emergency, sir?”_

“Erm, yes,” George said. “I think someone is stalking me and my friends at our cabin. He took out the power a few minutes ago.”

Technoblade wandered out of the kitchen with curiosity in his eyes. “The phone works?”

“Apparently,” George said with a shrug.

“Ask them if they can tell us where we are,” Technoblade said. “If they can’t help us we’ll need a grasp on where we are.”

_“Okay, sir. What’s your name?”_

“George.”

_“Do you know where the cabin is, George?”_

“Is it snowing where you are?”

_“...No, sir.”_

“Then we’re on a mountain somewhere. There’s a bad blizzard,” George said. “I woke up here, so I have no idea where we are.”

_“Do your friends have an idea?”_

“No, I don’t think so,” George responded. He thought back to the group of people who had been here originally. The people in the photos. “I think two of our friends are missing, they own the cabin.”

_“Alright, George. Keep your friend inside the cabin, you’ll be safe there until we can locate you. Does this person have any weapons?”_

_A window shattered as a hefty axe tore through the frost-coated glass—_

“I think so,” George said.

_“Find a safe room, somewhere with no windows and only one door. Can you stay on the line, George?”_

“No, it’s a cable phone, and I don’t think it’ll last much longer in the storm,” George said.

_“Alright, well we’ve tracked the call to a cabin in... forest... path... intersections. Did you get all of that, George?”_

“No, I didn’t,” George admitted. “You’re cutting out.”

_“Help is on the way. Stay safe.”_ The call ended before George had the chance to put the phone down.

“What did they say?” Technoblade asked.

“All I got out of her was that we’re in a forest on a mountain,” George stated. “You said you’ve played a game like this before. Did the house have a safe room with no windows?”

Technoblade hummed. “I think so, but it’s in the basement. We have to be sure everyone is here before we go down there, so do you remember who you saw in that butterfly prophecy?”

“Dream,” George said instantly, clearing his throat awkwardly. “Dream was there and he isn’t here yet. Quackity and Fundy too.”

“Okay, so we wait for those three and then we go,” Technoblade decided. “Do you think they’re already here?”

“Maybe?” George turned to the front door, a pull in his chest moving his feet forward. He twisted the key and pulled the door open, eyeing the sea of snow expanding across the entire front garden for any signs of life or human movement. “There!” He ran out of the door, with Technoblade following after him, and dropped to his knees beside the driver side of a Jeep, brushing fresh piles of snow out of a messy mop of blonde hair. “Dream.”

“He might have pneumonia,” Technoblade informed. “We should get him inside.”

“Dream,” George called again, shaking Dream’s shoulders lightly. “Dream!”

A large gulp of oxygen hastened down Dream’s throat as a sharp gasp left his lips. His eyes snapped open and met the familiar heterochromia gaze he had fallen head-over-heels for. “George?”

George smiled. “Welcome to the land of the living.” He looped one of Dream’s arms around his neck and pulled himself to his feet, silently thanking Technoblade for taking the other half of Dream’s weight. He loved the guy, but he weighed more than George did after eating a Christmas dinner.

“Oh goodness!” BadBoyHalo exclaimed, bringing one of the fluffy blankets from earlier use into the room and wrapping it around Dream. “You all need to stop appearing outside!”

“Fundy appeared while you guys were gone,” Skeppy said. “He was in the basement. He’s fine now, Wilbur’s with him.” He moved and took Technoblade’s place while the latter returned to the front door, locking it shut firmly — The alarms stopped going off in his mind the moment he did.

George and Skeppy disposed of Dream in the living room, where the fireplace was on full whack with as many logs as it could fit without burning out piled on top of each other, and waited for the others to file in before explaining the situation for the millionth time.

“Bet no one thought they’d be doing this when they woke up this morning,” Fundy commented. “Sheltering from a serial killer and a blizzard.”

“And butterflies,” Tubbo added.

“Butterflies?” Dream repeated.

“They’re calling it The Butterly Effect,” George said. “I saw a red one earlier.”

“Oh, great.” Fundy gestured a limp hand in George’s direction. “We’re dead.”

“Of course, George finds the thing that kills us all,” Sapnap said grouchily.

“George found the thing that could help us _avoid_ dying,” Dream corrected. “What’s going on with you, Sapnap?”

“There’s a serial killer outside! Give me a break!”

“He’s got a point,” George muttered.

“Something I never thought I’d hear you say,” Sapnap said with a smirk.

“Don’t get used to it, Snapmap.”

“Fuck you, Go—”

A warning scream bounced off the cabin walls as glass shattered in the distance, stunning the entire group into a paralysed silence.

A silence so thick, they were able to hear the moment a pair of heavy snow boots land on the wooden floorboards in the next room over.

———————————

I like the idea of George with heterochromia eyes, one blue and one brown, in favour of his Minecraft skin’s eye colour change. I know this chapter was a little uneventful, but I had to have them all poof into the building somehow! You’ll see my shitty drama skills next chapter... 😅


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long :) I scrapped the first idea for this chapter so it took longer. Hope you like it!

“What the hell was that?” The dread dripping from Sapnap’s tongue was enough to put all of his friends on edge, but he couldn’t control it, hand trembling until it linked with another, both holding on tightly for comfort.

Dream and George shared a glance, subconsciously shuffling closer to each other on the sofa as the others simultaneously got up and inched towards the door. Were they crazy?

“Guys,” George whispered, a disapproving frown on his face. “Are you serious right now?” His face fell flat when they shot him confused glances. “Oh look, a murderer broke in, but instead of running for my life like a normal human being, I’m going to needlessly sacrifice my life because why not?”

Wilbur snorted. “He’s got a point.”

Technoblade eyed the red butterfly in the corner of his eye. He didn’t need to approach it, it had already been approached by George, but having it lurk was both unnerving and reassuring. “The butterfly is back.”

Everyone whirled around, reaching out to grab the defenceless creature, but the butterfly soared above them a with a mocking demeanour, fluttering around in the air while the others watched it with wonderment.

“I thought they’re meant to help us avoid dying,” Sapnap said. “Why can’t we catch it?”

Technoblade rolled his eyes. Out of all the people he could be trapped in a horror with... “George already touched the butterfly, and it showed him what to avoid, so only George can touch the butterfly again.”

The group turned to George expectantly, and received a glare from a sheet-white mask in response. Nevertheless, George stood up and held out a hand to the butterfly, recoiling as it landed on his hand and sent the same distressing vision through his field of vision.

The butterfly flew away, leaving George behind to drop back onto the sofa beside Dream, who looked extremely concerned for his friend.

“George?”

The soft sensation of skin against skin snapped George out of his daze, lowering his gaze to find Dream’s hand laced firmly within his own. A tender smile widened across his heated cheeks. “I’m okay.” He turned to Technoblade, the smile now barely ghosting his face. “It hasn’t changed. If we go after him, someone dies.”

Tension filled the air, but Dream shook it off and stood up, a look of dedication on his face. “Then we don’t fight. Does this place have somewhere safe that can fit us all?”

“There’s two rooms in the basement,” Technoblade informed.

“But I saw those on the way up here,” Fundy interjected. “They’re small, and on opposite sides of the basement. We’d have to split up.”

“Does anyone have a _good_ plan?” Sapnap looked between the group hopefully. “No? Seriously?”

“Then it’s settled,” Technoblade said. “Once we make it to the basement, we split into two groups. Dream, you take—”

Splintering wood broke through the living room doors, and with it was the head of a large, steel axe.

“Run!” Dream shouted, pushing BadBoyHalo and Skeppy towards the other entrance before snatching George’s wrist and dragged him through the cabin. He could hear the others behind him, so he didn’t worry about looking back for them.

Fundy threw the basement door open and everyone hurled inside — Tommy and Tubbo even tripping over each other and falling flat on their faces.

“Come on!” Wilbur snapped, lifting the pair to their feet.

“Wilbur!” George shouted, tensing as Wilbur’s head missed the tip of a blade by a matter of seconds. He grabbed Wilbur’s arm and ran, only now realising they had lost the others in the midst of all the chaos.

“George, come on!” Wilbur said urgently, dragging both the two teenagers and George into a room which he then locked securely. “The door’s metal or something; that bastard won’t be able to get in.” He took a moment to regain himself, but once he had he slid down the door with a hand over his erratic heartbeat. “We almost died.”

George’s knees crumbled as relief filled his veins and he dropped down onto the floor beside Wilbur. “Thank god.”

An unfamiliar sob akin to choking filled the air around them, all heads turned to the blonde with his head burrowed in his knees. Tommy was _crying_.

“Tommy...?” Tubbo tentatively approached his best friend, his outstretched hand being knocked back by the latter’s furiously swinging limbs.

“We almost died!” Tommy exclaimed, tears slipping down his cheeks. “I’m sixteen, I don’t want to die!”

George and Wilbur pitied the teenager. They weren’t exactly teenagers anymore, but they were still young for their age and feared for their lives, they couldn’t imagine how Tommy and Tubbo felt.

“Tommy,” Wilbur started, shuffling over to the teen. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m not going to let you die.”

“You can’t promise that!”

“Then how about we do?” George countered. “Tommy, Tubbo—” He moved to the teenage brunette and wrapped an around around his shoulders. “—Wilbur and I promise you, we’ll keep you safe.”

Tommy scrubbed away his tears and leaned into Wilbur’s arms, a small smile gracing his face when he burrowed into Wilbur’s shoulder. “Thanks...”

Tubbo sniffled, smiling a watery smile up at George before finally taking in his surroundings. “Do you think we’re in one of those safe rooms?”

George hummed. “It is kind of weird to have a storage room made entirely of metal, don’t you think?” He smirked when Tubbo punched him in the arm playfully. He flinched back when he heard a harsh bang on the other side of the door. “Do you think the others are okay?”

Wilbur followed George’s gaze before returning it. “I hope so.”

“Wilbur...?”

Wilbur’s head turned so fast it might’ve flown off his shoulders, his eyes meeting a pair of cerulean in return. “Niki!?”

“Wilbur!” Niki jumped out from behind one of the many stands in the room and tackled Wilbur in a tight embrace. “Oh my god, you’re here!” She glanced over to the other three. “Is... is everyone here?”

“Basically,” Tommy responded with a shrug. “Wait. Did she hear me cry!?”

Niki snorted. “Don’t worry, Tommy. Your secret is safe with me.”

“No, no, no, it was a manly cry!” Tommy said stubbornly, glaring at the pair of snickering brunettes to the side of him. “It was a man-cry!”

“Sure,” Tubbo drawled, letting loose an ungodly screech when Tommy lunged at him, rolling the pair of them around on the floor like a pair of rabid pack animals.

George laughed at them but decided not to intervene. They needed it considering everything that changed in such a short amount of time. Plus, it was good entertainment.

“There’s some things we can use in here,” Niki said. “To protect ourselves.”

“How did you know we were here?” Wilbur questioned.

“Sapnap screams like a girl,” Niki giggled.

George barked out an obnoxiously loud laugh and slapped a hand over his mouth. He continued to giggle regardless and the others joined in, finding his abrupt laughter amusing.

Niki returned to her previous hiding spot and unveiled a large pile of weapons. None of them wanted to know why the cabin’s family had such a wide variety of guns and bows. She took a hand gun for herself.

Wilbur and Tubbo followed her lead, but George replaced Tubbo’s hand gun with a gun that had a longer shooting range.

“Keep as far away from them as possible,” George said, taking a crossbow for himself and a gun for reassurance.

Tubbo nodded and did the same for Tommy.

“Now what?” Wilbur asked.

Niki’s eyes narrowed on the door, pulling back the rear of her gun confidently. “Now we go find the others.”

—————————————

Dream, Technoblade and Fundy tumbled into the safe room while Skeppy and BadBoyHalo focused all their energy on forcing the metal door to shut. 

A sob slipped past BadBoyHalo’s lips as he dropped to the floor, hiding his face in his hands. “Oh god, they’re dead, they’re dead, they’re—“

“Bad, they’re not dead!” Skeppy scolded.

“We left them behind! With a monster!” BadBoyHalo cried. “He has an axe, Skeppy! An axe!”

Dream stared at the locked door with a knife entangled within his gut. The sound of George screaming Wilbur’s name was seared into his brain, fuelling his paranoia to dangerous levels.

“Dream.” Technoblade rested a placating hand on Dream’s tensed shoulder. No words were shared, but it was obvious what Technoblade was attempting to get through to the latter.

It was Dream’s call. They could go out and search for the others, knowing they were unarmed with a serial killer around the corner, or they could think up a more logical plan and hope that the others were as lucky as they appeared to be themselves.

Rationality was screaming in Dream’s ear ten-fold, but everything else was screaming much louder. He rose to his feet and searched around for something resourceful, eyes landing on a machete in the corner of the safe room. He grabbed it, weighed it with a considerate look, and lifted his fear-striking gaze to the metal blocking his path.

Sapnap and Karl took the hint and followed his lead.

“You sure this is a good idea?” Sapnap asked.

“Nope.”

“Comforting last words,” Sapnap muttered. “Let’s do it.”

———————————

Wilbur and Niki stuck to the back of their forged group while George was to the front, creating a protective shield around Tommy and Tubbo as best they could.

George being at the front meant he was guiding the group along, vigilance in every step as he peered around corners and kept an eye out for both friend and foe. He didn’t know where Dream and the others ran off to, having never been in the building before, so he was guessing solely on the direction he’d last seen them run.

“See anything?” Tubbo whispered as George looked around another corner, head snapping back instantly with his free hand slapping over Tubbo’s mouth.

Wilbur tightened the grip on his gun and moved around the others to get to the front. He, and the rest of his friends, tensed when they heard a loud scream echo from the same space George silently deemed dangerous. Their shared confusion fuelled their movements, both running around the corner and shooting at the first thing they saw.

“Oh for fuck— Eret???”

Eret’s head shot up. “Wilbur?” His eyes moved around the group fully emerging from the corner. “George? Niki? You guys are here too?”

George offered Eret his hand. “Are you okay?”

Eret nodded. “Yeah. I am now,” He said, accepting the extended limb. “Who was that?”

“A psycho!” Tommy blurted.

“Do you think he’s dead?” Niki asked.

“What the _fuck!!!_ ”

Eret turned towards the feminine scream. “Sapnap is here too?”

George smirked to himself and rushed off in the direction of the shout, skidding to a stop when he saw Technoblade impale the same murderer he and Wilbur had shot down moments prior. “Techno?”

Technoblade turned to George with shock and then relief, subconsciously helping Quackity to his feet while Dream surged past and caught George in a tight embrace.

“Thank god, you’re okay!” Dream exclaimed.

George returned the embrace, smiling into Dream’s chest.

“Eret!” Fundy greeted.

“Fundy!” Eret held Fundy in a warm hug. “It’s good to see you.”

“Yeah, okay, okay.” Wilbur separated the pair and turned to Technoblade, ignoring the daggers sent his way by Fundy for his troubles. “You never told us your stupid game or whatever had two of these pricks.”

Technoblade frowned in confusion. “That’s because it _doesn’t_ have two.”

“Well, this place definitely had two,” George said. “We killed one saving Eret.”

“So what you’re saying is, like any horror movie, there’s at least three killers?” Skeppy supplied. “Because there’s never just two.”

“He’s right,” Karl agreed.

“But if there’s three,” BadBoyHalo interrupted, resting his gaze on Tommy and Tubbo. “Then where’s the third?”

Technoblade’s eyes narrowed, mind processing everything that has passed. They were chased, they were almost killed, they regrouped, Eret and Quackity joined—wait.

_“Do you remember who you saw in that butterfly prophecy?”_

_“Dream,” George said instantly, clearing his throat awkwardly. “Dream was there and he isn’t here yet. Quackity and Fundy too.”_

Technoblade surged forward, snatching the loaded gun from Wilbur’s hand, and aimed directly for Tubbo’s forehead. “Move!”

Tubbo froze. His back slammed into the unforgiving concrete hard as Tommy tackled him and used his own body as a shield. He clenched his eyes shut in dreaded anticipation, but the shot was replaced by blood-curdling gurgles, something you’d hear if someone was drowning, which had him curiously opening his eyes.

“...Philza?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello procrastination my old friend... I hope you like this one :) It gets more... intimate? Brutal? Whatever. It gets _more_ after this chapter -hopefully- so uh... enjoy!
> 
> P.s. I couldn’t find the right draft that was resonating with me up until now, so it took longer. It’ll probably be like this a lot, but it’ll be worth it!

Philza withdrew his sword from the crumbling body’s chest cavity and offered Tommy a helping hand. “I’m glad I found you,” He said, shifting his attention to the group. “There’s an exit on the other side of the basement.”

“We can’t go outside, it’s snowing like crazy!” Quackity protested.

“Would you rather you were murdered in here?” Philza proposed. “Because if not, running out into a blizzard is the safer option.”

“What? But we just took out all of the murderers,” Sapnap informed, confusion shaping his features.

“You know how games have characters frozen in time until a certain point in the game?” Philza started, sheathing the bloodied sword as the others nodded in response. “Well, all of these characters have unfrozen, and their only aim is to get rid of us.”

“Techno,” George said. “How many times does the main character run into the murderer in that game you played?”

Technoblade pursed his lips together, bringing over them a tense silence that was brutal enough to knock everyone’s confidence down a peg. He turned his attention back to Philza and handed Wilbur his gun back. “Do you know the way to the exit?”

Philza nodded. “We better get a move on.”

The group ventured down the cramped hallways, twisting through turns and swerving around old pipes in pairs. 

Technoblade and Philza kept to the front, seemingly being the only two out of them all who had any kind of grasp on their surroundings.

Dream and George travelled at the back of the group, eyes and ears switched onto the highest setting as they moved. George turned to Dream when he felt skin brush against his own, and smirked at the blush peering out at him through the pale mask. He glanced down to his hip and pulled from it the gun he had acquired earlier, extending it towards Dream with a soft smile. “Here, you know how to use one of these, right?”

Dream smiled down at him and accepted the firearm gratefully. “Thanks, George,” He said. He scuffed his feet against the ground and averted his gaze, nervously clearing his throat. “What a way to bring us together.”

George huffed with amusement. “Yeah.” He glanced around. “Not what I imagined our first date would be like.”

Dream choked on his breath and wheezed softly. “Me neither.” He watched the light breaking through the frost-coated windows ahead of them light up George’s skin, his heart pounding in his chest at the angelic sight. “What... what did you imagine our first date would be like?”

George turned to him, pale cheeks a brilliant pink as he opened his mouth to give a butchered response.

A gust of wind almost knocked the pair of them off their feet, and with it came Fundy and Eret, who _did_ manage to knock them off their feet.

“Sorry!” Fundy laughed awkwardly. He scrambled to his feet and helped George up while Eret aided Dream. “You two okay?”

“Yeah,” Dream chuckled. “One hell of a breeze!”

“Welcome to Britain,” George snorted, grinning when Dream hunched over himself, releasing the same sound George’s kettle had before all of this mess.

Sapnap turned to them with an unamused glare. “Guys, right now is not the time for tea.”

“Oh, wow.” George hid his face in his hand. “ _That_ was painful. Don’t ever try being a comedian.”

“Let’s go,” Philza said loudly, gesturing widely for them to exit the building, keeping a firm hand on his hat as the winds aggressively tried to sweep it away.

Filing out of the building, it became clear just how many serial killers they were dealing with as lines of fire blasted through different sections of the upper cabin, likely sending an abundant amount of furniture up in flames.

“He has a flamethrower!?” Sapnap exclaimed.

Flames tore through the group, snapping at them and drawing back, bringing their gazes back with it to yet another masked man. Except, this time, he was holding a ginormous flamethrower in his grasp.

“Are you kidding me!?”

“Run!” Philza shouted, scattering the young adults and teenagers into the thickening wood. “Stick together!”

Karl shrieked as heat caught onto his hoodie, sending a line of fire up his sleeve. He ducked down and brushed it along the snow, killing it before too much damage was made. “We have a killer on our tail! Sticking together is _not_ our main concern!”

“Shut up and run!” Wilbur snapped, dodging a tree branch in time to be knocked back by a larger one.

“Wilbur!” Niki cried, snatching up his wrist as he pulled back his hands to check for blood.

“This is insane!” Tubbo said fearfully.

“Keep running, Tubbo!” Tommy shoved Tubbo’s back, propelling him further forwards as tree roots and flames threatened to trip up and swallow the pair whole. “Head for that over there!” He pointed to the dark, arch-shaped structure in the distance.

“Everyone follow Tommy and Tubbo!” Technoblade advised, weaving through the trees smoothly, and coming to a slowed pace when he was beside the two teenagers.

“Dream,” Philza said, appearing beside the masked-blonde. “Help me take him out!”

Dream glanced over to George, almost prepared to refuse, but George quickly let go of his hand and ran ahead, coming up beside Niki and Wilbur, and helped Niki drag her dazed best friend towards their hiding place.

Dream turned back to Philza and nodded confidently.

Tommy and Tubbo skidded to a stop one they were safely inside their newly-founded cave and made themselves an obtrusive beacon for the others with their hollers and limbs.

Niki, George and Wilbur arrived next, followed closely by Karl and Sapnap, both groups separating to tend to the small injuries they sustained.

Skeppy and BadBoyHalo appeared next with Fundy, Eret and Quackity alongside them.

BadBoyHalo laughed breathily and entwined himself around Skeppy suffocatingly. “Were alive, Geppy!”

Skeppy smiled and returned the hold. “Yeah, yeah, we’re alive.”

Niki giggled quietly at Wilbur’s defeat pout as George wrapped a piece of the latter’s shirt around the wound. “The good news is you aren’t going to die.”

“Yeah, just don’t get slapped by another tree,” George commented.

Wilbur shoved George and he fell onto his backside, erupting a fit of laughter from Wilbur’s chest.

George sneered at the latter, raising his middle finger to Wilbur’s face when Niki decided to join in with her soft giggles.

Metal struck the stone surface of the cave, seizing and silencing everyone whilst they turned their heads to the sound.

“Dream!” George pushed himself off the ground and took Dream by the shoulders as he staggered forwards with burns on his arms and legs. He guided him further into the cave before setting him down and tending to his injuries carefully. His dedication distracted him from the watchful pair of eyes above him.

Fundy and Eret sat at the far back of the cave, watching everyone else fuss over each other without much reason to do so themselves. Fundy’s tail wrapped around both him and Eret, resting a blanket of warmth over the pair.

Eret smiled over to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “You okay?”

Fundy glanced over to him, arms wrapped around his legs securely. “No...?” He hid his face into his knees. “I’m scared, Eret.”

Eret’s frown must’ve been contagious because it passed on to Wilbur, who had been watching their exchange since they sat down. Still, he held himself back and continued to listen. “I’d be a little worried if you weren’t.”

Fundy huffed, but there was no smile to accompany the breath. “I’m scared one of us won’t make it.”

“Don’t think like that,” Eret scolded.

“Come on, Eret. You can’t believe we’re all going to make it out,” Fundy said quietly. “None of us knows what we need to do to get out of here, and some of us aren’t even built for this kind of stuff! Dream and Techno, they’re good at this, but what about the rest of us? Most of the time, Bad is tripping over his own two feet, and god-forbid we come across a colour-themed escape route because George is colourblind!”

Everyone turned to him after hearing his noisy whisper.

BadBoyHalo turned away sadly. He knew Fundy wasn’t trying to hurt his feelings, but it hurt regardless because he knew it was true. He was clumsy, and hadn’t the first clue about how to protect his friends or—

“Hey.” Skeppy brushed his thumb across BadBoyHalo’s cheek to retrieve his gaze. “Fundy’s just upset; we all are. He’s wrong, okay?”

“But—”

“He’s wrong,” Skeppy said sternly.

BadBoyHalo smiled and nodded.

“George?” Dream spun his head to George when the other shifted to sit beside him.

“I’m fine,” George dismissed. “I know he’s upset, but seriously, I’m counting on you to save my ass if a colour-themed escape route is our only way back to the real world.”

Dream chuckled. “I won’t let you down.”

George hummed. “I know you won’t.” His head lolled to the side, the wind whistling a soft and unfamiliar melody in his ear as the storm started to slow. He felt the urge to speak deep in his chest, anything to break the silence slowly increasing in-depth, and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “A meadow.”

“Huh?” Dream focused on George. “A meadow?”

“That’s where I imagined we’d have our first date,” George supplied. “If we ever did have one.”

Dream smiled. “A meadow. Sounds nice.”

“Well, that was kind of the point.”

“Shut up, you know what I meant.” Dream laughed with George for a while, talking about anything to take their minds off everything that was happening, and the burns tinging uncomfortably beneath his tanned skin. “Hey, George?”

“Hm?”

“When we get out of here, can I take you to a meadow?”

George turned to Dream with a wide grin. “Really?” He refrained from giggling like an awkward school girl and nodded. “I’d like that.”

“Skeppy?”

“Yes, Bad?”

“Can we be roommates when this is over?”

Skeppy turned to BadBoyHalo with curiosity. “Roommates?”

BadBoyHalo blushed shyly. “Well... I just thought since we live in the same place anyway...”

Skeppy dragged BadBoyHalo into his arms, burrowing his face into BadBoyHalo’s dark hair. “I would love to be your roommate, Bad.”

BadBoyHalo beamed at the news, returning the hold on his friend.

“Hey, look,” Eret said, index finger extended to the entrance of the cave. “It’s stopped snowing.”

All eyes shifted to see if Eret’s reports were true, and all started grinning with excitement when they were.

“We have a better chance of figuring out our surroundings now,” Philza stated. “But it’s still night, so we should wait until morning to move.”

“Yeah, okay, but I need to go,” Tommy interrupted. “Like. _Go._ ”

George snorted. “I’ll go with him, I need to go too anyway.” He rose to his feet and Dream followed him up.

“I’ll come!” BadBoyHalo said cheerfully. He squeezed Skeppy’s hand reassuringly and bounded over to the trio who waited for him by the entrance of the cave.

“Stay vigilant,” Philza advised.

“Be careful,” Tubbo pleaded.

Tommy rolled his eyes. “We’ll be fine. Come on, guys!” He marched out of the cave with the others following behind him, amused by his attempts to make them sing a ‘toilet song’.

“Absolutely not,” George refused.

“Yeah, it’s not happening,” BadBoyHalo giggled. “We can stop here. I mean, we don’t need to go too far from the others, right?”

“Right,” Dream agreed.

BadBoyHalo roamed from the group, not needing a toilet break unlike his other friends, and took some time to focus on the scenery, the moonlit snow reaching knee-length beneath him for example. He reached down, after walking for some time, and picked up a handful of snow, admiring the way it stayed solid despite touching the warm surface of his skin.

“What you doing, Bad?” George asked curiously, appearing beside his friend and leaning curiously over his shoulder. “Snow?”

“It doesn’t melt here,” BadBoyHalo said. “Isn’t it cool?”

George smiled and picked up a handful of his own. “Yeah. I guess so.”

“I’m glad we’re all here together,” BadBoyHalo said hushly, crunching the snow between his fingers. “The situation sucks, but we all got to see each other, and we’re safe as long as everyone is together, right?”

“Speaking of staying together.” George turned when he heard snow crunching in the distance. “I think Dream and Tommy are finished.”

BadBoyHalo turned around with a smile, though it soon dropped to the pit of his stomach when he heard a bone-chilling crunch.

George spared him a side-glance with confusion written across his face. “What was that?”

“It wasn’t me,” BadBoyHalo said defensively. His mouth snapped shut when the sound of rocks scraping together reached his ears, leaving him nothing but seconds for a scream to rip from his throat, ricocheting off the surrounding snow particles, before he was dangling off the edge of a cliff with George desperately trying to pull him up. “George! George, George, help me. Help me, please!”

George pulled on BadBoyHalo’s wrist with all of his strength, head shooting up when he heard the sound of snow audibly squelching in the distance. “Help’s coming, Bad. Use your other hand to pull yourself up!”

BadBoyHalo squirmed in the air, swinging his body and catching his hand in the icy substance beside George. He screeched when his hand slipped, catching George off-guard and throwing him forward.

George’s hand flew out, catching him on the edge of the cliff before he went hurling over. “Bad!” He didn’t know whether he was scolding his friend or telling him to try again, but at this point, he didn’t care which one got across to the latter as long as he got _a_ message across.

“George!”

The first few seconds of BadBoyHalo’s retort made no sense to George, but the moment it dawned upon him, the melting snow beneath his knees caved in on itself, and the pair of them plummeted off the cliffside with a trail of screams following after them.

“DREAM!”

_**“GEORGE!!!”** _

_**“BAD!!”** _


	5. Chapter 5

_BadBoyHalo ran through the flooded mines with George’s hand held tightly in his own. He reared to a stop when George tripped and crashed into him, halting their escape from the monstrous creature chasing after them._

_George turned to the creature with his crossbow in hand and—_

BadBoyHalo inhaled sharply, spluttering out the snow shooting down his windpipe, and threw himself upright. He winced at the burning sensation in his chest, but brushed it off and started searching for the person he recalled falling with. “George? George, where are you?” His breathing hitched when he found George laid on his side with his back facing him. “George!?”

Fighting against the freckles of ice holding him in place, BadBoyHalo wormed his way out of the snow pillow and scrambled over to George on his hands and knees. “George?”

George’s eyes were firmly closed shut with his jaw refusing to move to let in the smallest amount of air. The sight of him knocked the wind out of BadBoyHalo, who was quick to place his hands over George’s chest. He was prepared to start CPR just as a wave of uncertainty washed over him. What if...

BadBoyHalo shook his head and clamped his eyes shut as he started chest compressions, body trembling at the continuous lack of response. “Come on, George! Don’t you dare leave!” He begged tearfully. “Please!”

The pounding of BadBoyHalo’s palms into George’s chest echoed around the space they were enclosed in for almost an hour, but his arms eventually gave out, and he resorted to sobbing over his friend’s deceased body. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” He whispered hoarsely, shakily brushing his fingertips over George’s cheek - he sobbed harder at how cold the surface was. “No... I’m so sorry, George!”

Painful sobs stung the air for a long time, though when they finally came to a stop, BadBoyHalo recollected himself and took off his hoodie to place over George’s freezing body. “Just... just wait here, Georgie. I’ll come back for you, okay?” He knew there was nothing he could do for him now, but if he could at least keep him preserved enough for a proper funeral then that’s what he would do. He rose to his feet and looked around for anything he could use to his advantage.

A trickle of water seeped through the bottom of a rock pile, guiding BadBoyHalo towards a discrete bend around the rock wall where a hidden mineshaft sat dormant and seemingly stable. He followed it inside, only managing to pray that the others would find him soon. He feared the brutal solitude would soon send him mad.

—————————————

Out of character for his usual, bubbly self, Tommy hadn’t uttered a word since he and Dream returned to the cave with two fewer friends than when they left. He cried when Skeppy burst into tears, and he continued to cry when Dream dropped to his knees with a defeated sob, but he never once spoke.

The group restarted their journey once the sun peaked out over the horizon, and with them followed a string of sobs carried breathily by the winds nipping at their noses. The sound suited their emotions perfectly.

"Tommy?" Tubbo linked his arm with Tommy's, pulling the pair of them to the front of the group so they could talk without interruptions. "Talk to me, Tommy."

"They went..." Tommy licked his lips and furiously scrubbed his eyes with his forearm. "They went over the cliff, Tubbo, and I... I didn't... I couldn't..."

Tubbo bit his lip and brought Tommy into a surprise embrace, nuzzling his face into Tommy's chest. "I-I know you wish you could have saved them, but George tried saving Bad and he still went over so... so I'm glad that you didn't." His voice broke. "I don't want to lose my best friend, Tommy."

"You'll never lose me, Tubbo," Tommy said, returning his best friend's embrace and resting his chin atop of the brunette's mop of hair. "I promise, I'm not going anywhere."

Philza stopped his friends as they reached a large stone wall, likely leading to something more secure on the other side. "Right, we have to climb over," He stated. "I'll go first, and then you send Tommy and Tubbo over next, okay?" He smiled at the pair of teenagers before grasping the serrated stone between his fingers, testing his rock climbing skills as he scaled the wall.

"Dream?" Sapnap beckoned, stopping Dream before he could walk off by gripping his wrist. "Dream."

Karl caught wind of the situation and moved over to Technoblade, who was trying to be discrete about his worry for both of his friends suffering losses. He brought Skeppy with him, creating a conversation between the three of them that would lighten the heavy mood settling in.

"Come on, Dream," Sapnap started. "I've known you longer than anyone here. I know when you need to talk to someone."

Dream turned to face Sapnap, burning a glare into his skull through the barrier his mask placed between them. "There's nothing to talk about," He said. "I didn't get there in time and they're gone. Do you want to hear me say something else?"

"Yes." Sapnap crossed his arms. "I want to hear you say you know you aren't the reason that happened." His eyes narrowed when Dream stayed silent yet refused to avert his gaze. Or maybe he had, Sapnap couldn't tell with the mask hiding his expressions. The only person who could have had gone flying over a cliff. "Seriously? You think you somehow caused a cliff to cave in on itself?"

"Maybe we did something wrong," Dream proposed. "This place is all about the butterfly effect, right? How do you know I didn't fuck up by not stopping Bad from roaming off? If he hadn't, then George wouldn't have followed him and they'd both be here!"

"You don't know that!" Sapnap argued. "A fucking tree branch could've dropped on their heads if you stopped them - would you have blamed yourself for that too?" He dropped his shoulders with an irritated huff of air. "Look, either way, you and I both know for a fact George would kick your ass right now if he saw you wallowing like this."

"I'm not going to apologise for _grieving_ to you or anyone, Sapnap." Dream turned on his heels and walked up to the wall just as Tubbo attempted to climb it on his own. "Need some help?"

Tubbo turned to him with a shy grin and nodded. "A little."

"Okay, send 'em over!" Philza beckoned.

The task of climbing over the wall was simple, but climbing back down was the part that stumped Tommy. Tubbo managed the task with ease, jumping down and landing on his feet, but when Tommy prepared himself for a jump and enacted the movement, the leg of his trousers caught on a protruding edge and sent him face-first into a pile of snow.

Tubbo burst into a fit of laughter that had him struggling to regain his breath whilst the others followed them over the wall, chuckling at the sight of Tommy spitting out red-stained snow.

Philza shuffled forward and held a torn piece of fabric to Tommy's nose, which the latter took control of almost instantly, before pulling the teenager to his feet.

"Mines," Wilbur read, eyes skimming over the sign a few steps in front of him. "We're heading towards mines?"

"It's the only way to the bottom of the mountain other than the main path," Technoblade informed. "But it isn't the safest route."

"I'm sorry," Karl interrupted, sarcasm lacing his words. "This place has a fucking safe route?"

Wilbur chuckled, heading towards the mines with Niki at his side, their hands entwined as Niki held onto him with fear in her eyes. "I guess we're going in then," He said, glancing over his shoulder. "Unless anyone else has a better idea...?"

Dream and Sapnap shared a glance. Dream shrugged and walked over to Wilbur, taking the lead with his gun at the ready while the others followed in after them at a slower pace. He kept an eye out, for what he wasn't certain, but if Technoblade was sure it wasn't a safe place, he was going to believe him. He couldn't risk losing anyone else.

They hadn't walked that far downhill when they heard an echoing splash in the distance.

The atmosphere grew tense, but Philza tore through it, literally, by swiping his sword through the air to draw attention. "We're in a mine that hasn't been used in years, it's probably starting to fall apart."

"Yeah, how about you don't say that when we're walking through it?" Niki suggested.

Muted agreements passed through the team as they continued on their way through the tunnels.

\-------------------------------

BadBoyHalo stumbled through the tunnels, now running at his premium speed to escape the monstrosities chasing after him at a close proximity. He almost fell on his face when he stepped in a puddle that was much deeper than it appeared, but he quickly recovered himself and continued to run, tears streaming down his face as he rounded corners with desperate prayers under his breath. "Help me!"

 _Help me!_ The plea reverberated through the hollow tunnels but no sound returned to him.

Fatigue slowly seeped into his bones, but he fought the urge to slow down as he rounded yet another sharp turn only to run smack into a man in a familiar royal robe. "Techno!"

Technoblade stared at BadBoyHalo dumbfounded before facing the creature BadBoyHalo had been running from the entire time. A Wendigo. He slapped a hand over BadBoyHalo's mouth, glancing back to see Philza signal for everyone to be silent, and returned his attention to the panting monster a mere few steps ahead of them.

The wendigo let out a defeated rumble and returned to the depths of the tunnels it appeared from, leaving the group to come to terms with what they happened to witness, and the person they had just ran into.

"Bad!" Skeppy engulfed the latter in his arms, laughing into BadBoyHalo's hair as he pulled him as close to his own body as possible. "You're alive! You're actually alive!"

“Geppy!” BadBoyHalo clutched into Skeppy’s hoodie for dear life. “Geppy, I’m sorry, I couldn’t save him. I couldn’t— he...”

“George?”

BadBoyHalo nuzzled his face into Skeppy’s shoulder, muffling the nod he gave in response.

Niki gasped and covered her mouth with both her hands, looking over to Wilbur and then Dream, both of which looked distraught beyond compare at the news. “Oh my god...”

“Shh...” Skeppy stroked BadBoyHalo’s hair soothingly. “It’s okay, Bad... Where’s your hoodie? It’s freezing, Bad!”

“George was cold,” BadBoyHalo whispered brokenly. “That happened to him because of me. I dragged him down... I had to do something for him.”

Dream grit his teeth and stormed off, ignoring the shouts chasing after him as he continued down the unstable mines to clear the fog forming in the front of his mind. Only when he was far away from the others did he let a sob slip past his lips, and by then his knees crumbled and he removed his mask to wail into his palms.

_“I won’t let you down.”_

_“I know you won’t.”_

“George,” Dream sobbed. “George, I’m sorry.” His grief turned into rage, and the mineshaft’s walls took the brunt of his rage as his fist collided with it head on. “God damn it!” He could’ve cared less about the echo his voice created, but his fury had attracted a blood-thirsty beast and he had nothing but a measly gun to try and fight against it with.

Dream could hear the others calling for him in the distance, but his words caught in his throat, tearing away his vocals cords as the Wendigo threw down a fatal blow in path of his skull.

A mortified shriek ripped from the Wendigo and it staggered back, clawing at its chest as flames protruded from the area of its body. It scrambled away, screeching and whimpering all the way, leaving a dazed and confused Dream in its wake as he figured out where the fire had come from.

A hand appeared in front of his face. “Get up, Dream.” He accepted the hand and took in the appearance of his saviour.

“Jschlatt???”

Jschlatt nodded at him and collected Dream’s mask off the floor, holding it out to the latter. “Let’s go.”

Together they ran into the depths of the mines and relocated the group Dream was travelling with. Jschlatt stayed back as BadBoyHalo ran forward and tackled Dream in a hug, begging the blonde for forgiveness.

“Jschlatt,” Philza greeted.

Jschlatt nodded at him and crossed his arms. “Separating in here is a death with,” He warned. “The Wendigos are everywhere, and if you’re not careful, you’ll be everywhere too.”

“Dude,” Sapnap groaned, shaking away the gruesome mental image.

Jschlatt chuckled, smile falling slightly as he turned to BadBoyHalo. “I saw George. You gave him your hoodie?”

BadBoyHalo nodded. “He... he was cold.”

Jschlatt nodded. “Well, if we’re going to get out of here we have to keep moving,” He said. “Where are you headed?”

“To the bottom of the mountain,” Philza responded.

“That’s a long way,” Jschlatt warned. “But if you’re ready for it. There’ll be more Wendigos down there too, so keep your eyelids peeled.” He turned and started his tour of the underground levels he had been thrown into hours prior.

“Pst, Tommy,” Tubbo whispered.

“Yeah, Tubbo?”

“Look.” Tubbo’s index finger aimed at a butterfly in the distance with wings darker than the blackest night, creating circular motions around a butterfly pure as the first of freshly fallen snow.

Tommy’s eyes narrowed. “I wonder what that means.”

Neither creature lowered to greet the group, observant from a distance, so Tommy and Tubbo felt no need to share their new discovery with the rest of the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like such a bad person 😂☠️ It’s never too early for a death. 😉  
> I suck at drama 😅😪 Hope you all enjoyed. Depending on how the day goes I might upload another later for missing yesterday. Have a good day! :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is late. 😅 I dyed my hair to think up some ideas for my next few chapters. Enjoy!

Sparks spat in Jschlatt’s face as Technoblade dragged the large rock across Philza’s sword. He wasn’t usually one to do another’s dirty work, but he let up this one time while Philza focused his attention on the new arrival. He, on the other hand, didn’t give a shit about what Jschlatt had to say and refused to act as though he did.

“You’ve been down here the entire time?” Philza questioned for the millionth time. “How? And where did you find your weapon if you were never in the cabin?” He didn’t believe Jschlatt for a second; his sons had been to war with the man before, but he had to hand it to him for saving Dream’s life. He knew the majority of them were thankful for that, but they had to establish trust in everyone somehow.

“The corpses in these mines carried weapons with them,” Jschlatt answered. His shoulders bounced with a lack of interest in his eyes, but he kept them on Philza regardless. He knew where he stood to them at the moment, so he also knew turning his back to the man would not turn in his favour. “I haven’t been in here the entire time, at first I was at the entrance of the mine by the bottom of the mountain, but there was nothing but frostbite and imminent death for me down there so I came in here.”

“How did you know about the fire to scare off the Wendigos?” Eret inquired. He hadn’t used his voice much during the move from the cave to the mines, his mind too busy raging and his hands full with keeping Fundy sane, but he decided to remind everyone of his presence.

“I started a fire and the Wendigos ran away from me,” Jschlatt stated. “Then, I carried fire on a stick around with me and I wasn’t approached by one once. I had hoped their fear meant it was fatal to them, but my thought was proven false when I shot it and it ran.”

“Are we all skipping past the fact that he said there are corpses in here?” Niki questioned. “Like, actual real-life corpses of people trapped in this place. What gives us the advantage over them??”

“We haven’t been trapped in a collapsed mine for over ten years,” Technoblade commented. “Or a time somewhere around there, anyway. Bodies don’t decompose easily in the cold, so if they’re bones now, they’ve been here for a while.”

“I do not want to know how you know that,” Wilbur said, an unnerved shiver crawling up his spine. “But anyway, Jschlatt is here now and he knows how to help us get the hell out of here. We’ve already lost one friend, and I’m not about to lose another because of your god damn trust issues.”

“Who did you lose?” Jschlatt questioned.

“How could you forget when you saw him?” Fundy snapped. “George, you idiot.”

“Oh,” Jschlatt huffed under his breath. “Must’ve slipped my mind. But—”

“Must’ve slipped your mind?” Dream growled. “How the _hell_ does your dead friend slip your mind?”

“Well—”

“I am not following him through these mines,” Fundy refused, folding his arms stubbornly. “He’s a god damn psychopath.”

“Fundy,” Eret said softly, taking hold of Fundy’s arm gently.

Fundy focused on him with a calculating gaze and then tore his arm from Eret’s grasp, surprise written across his features. “Are you serious right now?” He asked disbelievingly. “You’re _siding_ with him?”

“He’s the only one who knows how to get us out of here,” Eret said. “Wilbur said it himself! Judging him based on your trust issues isn’t going to get any of us out of here.”

“Woah!” Wilbur interrupted, creating a human barrier between Fundy and Eret. “My son does not have trust issues, and don’t use my words against my family! If he doesn’t trust him then he probably has a point! You’d know that if you knew anything about him.”

“I feel like we’re getting a bit off-topic here,” Eret said, irritated. “I do know him. I happened to be there when you weren’t, in case that fact slipped your mind.”

“Why you—”

“Stop it!” Fundy interrupted, causing more chaos between the three rather than bringing it to a halt.

Sapnap leaned back and chuckled as the scene unrolled before him. “They’re getting into it, aren’t they?” He elbowed Dream playfully with a smirk that stumbled when Dream didn’t even turn to him in acknowledgement. “Come on, Dream. We aren’t going to get through this if you’re being sad all the time.”

Karl turned to Sapnap with a darkened expression and grabbed his arm, pulling him to his feet involuntarily. “We need to talk. Now.”

“Karl?” Sapnap started to sweat nervously when Karl backed him into a corner with a murderous scowl on his face. “Why are you looking at me like you’re about to go all stabby-stabby on me?”

Karl forced out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sapnap, you are one dense motherfucker—” He missed the scandalised contortion on Sapnap’s face. “–if you think it is acceptable to shove Dream like that.”

“What? I elbow him all the time—”

“I didn’t mean with your fucking elbow!” Karl shouted, pausing for a moment when he felt multiple eyes on his back. He recomposed himself and spoke in a softer voice, one that the nosier of their group wouldn’t be able to decipher. “You’ve been trying to force him to move on like George’s death wasn’t a huge impact on everyone. Do you even care about George’s death?”

“Of course, I do!”

“Well, maybe the fact that I even had to ask you in the first place should get it through your thick skull that you aren’t showing it,” Karl said angrily. “I know you like to laugh at things and put off accepting it for however long you can, but the rest of us can’t do that, Sapnap. Maybe you should consider that the next time you talk to Dream and pretend George didn’t mean anything to you - we all know damn well that he did.”

Sapnap followed Karl’s back as he stormed over to Dream and attempted to comfort him, finding himself holding the weeping man as a result, and couldn’t help but feel guilt gnaw at his heart. Had he been that harsh about it?

BadBoyHalo stormed his way into the middle of the bickering trio and shoved them apart forcefully. “QUIET!” His voice echoed, turning all heads and silencing all voices. “You are all grown men! Sort out your stupid fucking family issues once you’ve made it out of this hellhole alive!” He spun on his heels when Skeppy landed a hand on his shoulder to guide him away.

“Well, back to the argument that matters,” Tommy interjected, stood closest to the entrance of their hiding place with Tubbo sat next to him on a nearby supply box. “Tubbo and I don’t trust Jschlatt either. He’s a monster, and he’s never been on our side, so why would he decide to be now?”

“Being on your side in a world where you can respawn isn’t the same as being on your side in a world where you can’t,” Jschlatt said, turning to the two youngsters of the group. “Why are children getting a say in this anyway? They’ve only gotten in the way of everything so far, haven’t they?”

“Those children are our friends,” Wilbur said snappily. “And they’ve done a hell of a lot more for this group than you have, so shut your god damn mouth.”

Jschlatt nodded mutely and shifted his attention to the remainder of the dream team. “Wow, you all fall apart when someone mature isn’t here to pick you up, don’t you?” He knew it was the wrong thing to say when a vicious growl left Fundy’s lips.

“That’s it!” Fundy bellowed, lunging at Jschlatt with his claws extended.

“Fundy!!!”

“Here we go again,” Tommy muttered, rolling his eyes and dropping down on the box beside Tubbo, their shoulders bumping against each other. He glanced over to Dream and dropped his chin into his hands, sighing sadly. “The bastard was right about one thing—” Tubbo turned to him curiously. “—we're all falling apart.”

“I think that would’ve happened with or without losing a friend,” Tubbo said softly. “Nobody wants to be here with all those monsters...”

Tommy pulled Tubbo into a side-hug. “Well, we’re going to make it out of here, okay?” He said. “I’m never leaving you behind.”

Tubbo giggled. “I feel like we’ve been giving each other a lot of moral support lately.”

“Yeah, we’re going soft.” Tommy chuckled and returned his attention to the fight. “I didn’t know Fundy was so good at being an animal.”

“Fundy, that’s enough!” Wilbur scolded. “Stop!”

Fundy struggled against Wilbur’s embrace, but it was clear he wasn’t going anywhere. “He doesn’t get to come here and criticise us! He doesn’t get to! He was your friend too! Say something! Fucking defend him!!!”

Niki averted her gaze from the heart-breaking scene and landed a resounding blow to Jschlatt’s face. The surprise on his features resonated with the rest of the group, but her eyes were alight with too much fury to notice. “Don’t forget, you’re the only accessory to this group right now. If you want to give us a reason to kick you out, keep running your mouth.”

Technoblade chuckled and handed Philza his weapon back. “Finally, someone says something important.” He spun the machete in his hand and looked over the people he would be stuck with until their escape. “Listen up…”

Rocks slipping down from the roof and clashing against Tommy’s skull brought his attention towards the entrance of the collapsed hiding area. He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward observantly, locking onto a pair of blood-red eyes as a low howl reverberated into opening, knocking him into Tubbo with a gust of wind before dropping them onto the floor.

With the howl emerged a monstrous pack of beasts, eyes alight with a hunger for the sacks of blood staring at them in fright.

“Run!!!” Jschlatt exclaimed, swooping his weapon up from the stone surface and firing away at the Wendigos while the other made for the other exit.

Wilbur pushed past the others to aid Tommy and Tubbo, hastily handing them their loaded weapons and pushing them along to the exit. “Shoot them when they get too close, got it?!”

Tubbo nodded wildly, occasionally glancing over his shoulder to check for the monsters that were now giving chase from behind Jschlatt. He swallowed back the urge to tear up; if he was going to make it out of here alive, he needed to see where he was going. He felt a hand slide into his own and turned to Tommy, a smile falling onto his face when Tommy turned to him with a reassuring grin. They could do this.

Wilbur noticed Dream was lacking behind the others, less motivation in his slurred movements, and paused for a moment of thought. He gave a wide smile as an idea came to mind and slowed himself to Dream’s pace, taking his firearm and loading it before handing it back. “Listen, I need you to do something.” He rolled his eyes when Dream glared at him. “Fine, George would want you to do something for him.” The glare dropped. “See those kids? We promised them we’d keep them safe, but now they’re down a guardian and someone needs to step up.”

Dream looked down at his gun and clenched it tightly in his fist. He nodded at Wilbur and turned around in time to shoot a Wendigo through its open jaw, grinning with a sick satisfaction as it flew back and got crushed by its fellow Wendigos. Jschlatt shot him a thankful look and he nodded in return, keeping a keen eye on the pair of teenagers ahead of him.

Wilbur smirked victoriously, though the moment was short-lived as he caught something strange in his peripheral amid their escape and eyed it curiously.

Wendigos didn’t have fur… did they?


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been forever 😅 Sorry about that. No excuses this time, I was just lazy, and had this unfinished draft for about a month that I’ve now decided to finish!
> 
> Anyway, Happy New Year!!! And, late Merry Christmas. I hope it was good for all of you, and I hope the new year is full of good things for everyone.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter, I’ll see you in the next one! :)

The Wendigos were gaining on them, which sent their paranoia through the roof, and gave way for fight or flight over rational thinking.

Wilbur locked onto the first corner he saw and shoved Tommy and Tubbo towards it, disregarding the direction the rest of the group were hurling themselves down. He clamped both his hands over the teenagers’ mouths and prayed to whoever would help them he didn’t just make a grave mistake.

A gust of wind blew softly against his features but no fatal blow struck his head, and so he opened his eyes and searched for the beasts, but they weren’t anywhere in sight. Strange... hadn’t one been there a second ago? He grabbed both teenagers by the wrist and guided them out of the hiding place cautiously, roaming the path they and their friends had been on not too long ago.

Fear hung high as a shrill scream pierced the tension, and this time, it was a feminine scream they associated with their female friend.

Wilbur’s eyes stung painfully, opening his jaw to shout for his best friend, but a hand slapped over his mouth before any noise could make an escape. He faced Tommy with tears slipping down his cheeks, but he knew what Tommy was doing was for the best, so he swallowed down his tears and with it went his emotions. He grabbed both teenagers by the wrists and headed in an alternate route to the rest of their group.

“Wilbur, where are we going?” Tubbo asked anxiously. “Everyone else is that way!”

“Wil—“

“If we go that way we’ll be killed,” Wilbur interrupted. “If the others made it, they’ll meet up with us at some point.”

“What if they didn’t?” Tubbo questioned. “They could need our help!”

“If they need help from people who don’t have the slightest idea what they’re doing, they’re as good as dead,” Wilbur said bluntly. He halted when he heard a stiffled sob break past Tubbo’s hand. “Tubbo—” He turned and took Tubbo by the shoulders gently. “—I want to save them just as much as you do; they’re my friends too, but I made a promise. I promised you two I would keep you safe, so I can’t walk you both into danger blindly. We will find the others, but when we do, we will be better equipped to save them rather than die with them.”

Tommy smiled at Wilbur with a sad glint in his eyes, taking hold of both Tubbo’s and Wilbur’s hands as he continued down the crooked mine. “I think I see something down the end of this tunnel...”

A low rumble followed after the trio, a darkness seeping into the direction they headed as their backs were turned.

————————————————

Dream grabbed Niki by the back of her shirt and threw her through the crumbled doorway of a mineshaft office nearest to him. He tore through a wendigo’s eye with his metal bullets, terrifying the monstrous beast as it retreated to the safety of its teammates.

A petrified scream ripped from Niki’s throat as she was thrown, and when she landed, she scampered back in hopes of finding something beneficial to her safety. She straightened up when a nearby, discarded hammer caught her sights, and reached out to snatch it into her hand without a second thought. “Wilbur, do you still have—“ Niki’s head snapped to the doorway she had been thrown through, watching as the events unfurled before her eyes without the familiar brunette in sight. “Wilbur!?”

Technoblade shot down another fleeing Wendigo before helping Niki to her feet, staggering back as a crawling wendigo jumped out from a sharp corner and lunged with it jaw open wide.

Niki let out an anguished cry and smashed the hammer down on the Wendigo’s skull. “Just _fuck off!_ ”

Technoblade blinked, sharing the same shock as the disoriented Wendigo as it followed her orders with half its frontal lobe smashed in. He swiped the monster’s blood from his cheek and faced the woman, who didn’t seem to give a shit about the Wendigo blood painting her facial features vibrantly. “Nicely done.”

“Where is Wilbur?” Niki asked, walking back to the mine they had surged down in a hurry to live. “They were right behind us! Tommy, Tubbo, Wil — where the hell are they!?”

Jschlatt cleared his throat nervously. “We should keep going,” He said. “Wilbur is smart enough to keep them alive, he’s probably dragging the pair of them to safety as we speak, so if you want to see them again, we should probably do the same.” He swallowed down the fear swirling around his chest in favour of his dignity, and silently led the group through the tunnels.

Dream came up beside Niki as they were walking, she couldn’t see it but there was a praising smile on the face hidden behind the mask adorning a false smile. “You did a good job back there, you know.”

“I feel like a monster,” Niki said, her eyes trained on the path ahead. Meanwhile, her mind focused on keeping the strain from her voice. “I bashed its head in, Dream. It _feared_ me.”

“Sometimes people should fear you,” Dream said. “If you’re not feared then you’re manipulated.”

“Is that why you stick around them?” Niki asked, her eyes soft as they met with Dream’s. “Sapnap and George? To protect them from manipulative people?”

Dream snorted. “George could beat anyone’s ass if you push him hard enough, and Sapnap has proved he’s badass at any time of day,” He said proudly. “I’m friends with them because they’re good people, they know how to take and dish one joke too far, and they know how to put me right when I fuck up.”

Niki focused on him intently. “What do you mean?”

Dream turned away from her, his memories taking an unwelcome trip to the front of his mind as he reminisced on his time with George and Sapnap. “Sometimes I go too far,” He started. “Whether its insulting George too harshly, or its joking about something I know Sapnap doesn’t like to bring up, they both know how to knock me down and build me back right when I do something wrong. I’m thankful they’re still here, honestly.” His eyes trailed. “One of them, at least.”

“I’m sorry, Dream.” Niki rested her hand on Dream’s forearm. “We all have our quarrels, but we’re good people overall. George was no exception.” She retracted her hand when he purposefully jostled his limb. “He’d be proud of you, you know. For continuing.”

“This just doesn’t feel real,” Dream shook his head. “I mean, if it’s a video game, he’ll still return to the real world, right? He won’t actually be...” he chewed on his bottom lip. “What if that really was the last time I’d ever see him?” His voice came out scratchy and hoarse and it pained Niki to listen to, but she wasn’t going to tune him out. God knows she wouldn’t want the same treatment. “We never even met, Niki. That can’t have been the last time.”

Niki stayed mute. Anything she said could trip a wire, and she wasn’t ready to give or steal any hope to or from the man.

“There’s a clearing up ahead,” Jschlatt announced.

BadBoyHalo looked around from the security of Skeppy’s arms, his brain whirring with returning memories. “Wait, I’ve been down here before,” He said. “I came from down here! George?” He called out his friend’s name as he ran ahead, shoving past Jschlatt as he made it to the clearing.

“Bad, wait!”

—————————————————

Wilbur stabbed the metal pipe through the Wendigo’s skull, trapping the monster to the floor as blood spurted from the top of the pipe, splattering onto the trio as they took notes while observing. “It can’t heal,” He noted, watching the wound throb. “It must be waiting for the pipe to be pulled out first.”

“But with the wooden spear it snapped it and healed around it,” Tubbo said.

“It’s got to be the metal,” Tommy said confidently. “The wood didn’t have the same qualities or whatever. It has to be that, right?”

“I feel like a mad scientist,” Tubbo murmured. “Do we have to test on these things?”

“We do if we want to survive,” Wilbur answered, tearing the pipe from the Wendigo’s skull. He kept a keen eye on the wound until it was entirely sealed before he stepped back, pulling Tubbo and Tommy with him. “It heals slower when we use metal.”

“Okay, so we know what weakens it,” Tommy said. “But nothing we’ve tried has killed it, so what the fuck do we try next?”

A distant roar was reciprocated by the Wendigo in their captivity, bringing a paranoid expression to Wilbur’s face. “Right now we need to run,” He declared, following after the two teenagers as they took off ahead of him, taking the initiative around sharp corners whilst he focused on stunning the monster charging past its own kind with a thirst to murder to three humans ahead of it.

“Shit!” Tommy shouted. “Wilbur!”

“Why the hell have we stopped?” Wilbur asked furiously, turning around with a pair of wide eyes.

“We hit a dead end!” Tubbo cried.

An unholy amount of curse words spilled from Wilbur's lips as he turned back to the swarm of Wendigos hurling towards them. He could hear Tommy and Tubbo pounding on the wall behind them in a desperate attempt to unlock some sort of escape route, but he knew their actions would be fruitless and prepared himself for a pointless battle.

Before the Wendigos could lunge at their full course meal, a hellish howl ripped through the mineshaft, and the otherwise sturdy stone beneath their feet crumped, plummeting them into a hidden space with screams of terror and surprise ripping from their throats.

The Wendigos swiped for their food, and peered down into the large space with irritatedly loud shrieks before scampering away with a scent trail of human flesh at a nearer distance.

——————————————————————

“Wh... but... this isn’t... I left him here!” BadBoyHalo cried. “He was here!” He dropped to his knees in the snow and brushed off the frozen, blood-coated jacket George had been wearing before the fall.

Jschlatt looked between everyone and quietly cleared his throat, bowing his head to seem less noticeable in their group of grieving individuals, and walked up to BadBoyHalo with his hands out placatingly. Comfort wasn’t his thing, but since no one else seemed to want to do it... “Bad, maybe we shouldn’t be out in the open.”

“You... you were the last one to see him.” BadBoyHalo said hoarsely, shifting everyone’s attention to the suspected culprit. “What did you do with him?”

“What?” Jschlatt stepped back in surprise. “I didn’t do anything. The last time I saw him he was covered in snow and wearing your hoodie. I’m not lying!”

The many glares directed towards him argued against statement.

“Out of all the sick and twisted...” Dream stopped short when three echoing screams reached the clearing.

“Wilbur!” Niki shouted.

Skeppy jumped when a splash of snow dropped onto his head, and turned skyward to see more than a splash of snow hurling towards them from the wall of the cliff side. “Guys!”

“Inside! Now!” Philza shouted, sweeping BadBoyHalo onto his feet with a swipe of his wing, and ushered everyone back towards the mines. He was the last person out in the cold to make sure everyone was safely inside, feathers bristling at the bitter cold nipping at the base of his wings.

Technoblade grabbed Philza’s arm whilst he tumbled and threw the pair of them to the floor as the mountain of snow blocked out the remaining fleck of light from the outside. He shook off the snow dotting his braided hair and sat up, checking over Philza before watching their other companions slowly recompose themselves. “Everyone alive?”

“Not for much longer!” Fundy declared, fighting against the pair of arms restraining him while he tried to claw Jschlatt’s eyes out.

Quackity shook his head at the latter’s antics and looked back to the direction they came from, squinting through the black of night in an attempt to locate any oncoming danger. “Oscuridad estúpido... Schlatt, how did you light a fire the first time?”

“With two sticks,” Jschlatt drawled.

“Okay well, does anyone have a better way to see where we’re going?” Quackity countered, glaring at the horned-man. “We won’t be able to find the others if we can’t see them.”

“I have at least one or two fire arrows left,” Jschlatt stated, pushing himself to his feet and drawing an arrow with a caged oil rag nearest the sharpened tip. “It wasn’t sharp enough when I first found it to pierce through a body and stay there, so I had to rework it, but it worked considering how it effectively saved Dream.”

“Don’t you need oil for the rag?” Philza questioned.

“There’s already oil on them,” Jschlatt responded. “I have two left, we can use one to see, but I’ll need the other in case of of those Wendigos is brave enough to come closer than the first.” He pulled out a lighter and held it to the oil rag, smiling with fascination as the fire crawled up the rag and lit up the surrounding area, effectively frightening off the advancing Wendigos.

“Alright!” Quackity snatched it from Jschlatt’s hand, but it was quickly taken again by Philza, who moved alongside Technoblade and lead the group back in the direction they came.

“Everyone stay together,” Philza called. “The fire doesn’t have a wide range.”

Skeppy gripped BadBoyHalo’s hand tightly, drawing his attention away from Dream, who clutched George’s old jacket in his fists like it had hurt and complimented him in the same sentence. “I miss him too, Bad,” He said. “But we’ve got to focus on getting out of here. If we stop to grieve we might not make it.”

“You think I’d let that happen?” BadBoyHalo questioned.

“You don’t control this world, Bad,” Skeppy reasoned. “All I’m saying is, if this place really means death both here and home, I want to live long enough to grow old and come to terms with this hell we actually experienced. Plus, we’re moving in together, remember?”

BadBoyHalo puffed out a large breath and slowly nodded his head. “I know, I know... I just... everyone is in different corners of a world only two of us know about —both of which are out of their minds on a good day. No offence to Techno.”

“None taken,” Technoblade mused.

“Why can’t everyone just stay together?” BadBoyHalo continued.

“Different things need to be taken into account when you have a group of many different people,” Karl stated. “Like their weight, their medical and mental health, their height and their exercise. A person can be skinny as hell, but still suck on a race course.”

“And four of our group members are teenagers,” Quackity added, gesturing to Karl and then himself. “Fragile minds.”

“Right now, I think we all have fragile minds,” Eret commented.

“I think I lost the last of my brain cells.”

“You had brain cells?”

Philza chuckled at the bickering proceeding behind him and glanced over to his otherwise silent friend, who had yet to crack a smile or chuckle as he usually would in these situations. “What?” He caught Technoblade’s attention. “Usually you’d be laughing at people in situations like this. Cat got your tongue?”

Technoblade huffed through his nose, a fond smile on his face. “I think it’s taken a lot more than my tongue,” He said. “Like, my sanity. I just can’t figure out the reason for all of this. It’s stupid, pointless.”

“It wouldn’t be pointless to a sadist,” Philza pointed out.

“What are the chances?”

“Higher than you’d think. To go through all this? Must’ve wanted us to suffer more than our worst enemies.”

A dissatisfied hum rumbled in Technoblade throat as they turned a corner they had the opportunity to venture through the first time. He stopped short when a small creature with a golden glow fluttered in his and Philza’s direction, landing on the stilled pink-haired man’s nose and crackled a burst of electricity through his bloodstream, configuring a vision in his mind.

_”This way,” Philza beckoned, leading the group towards a deeper tunnel in opposition to the twin tunnel beside it._

_“Hold on, Phil,” Dream said, approaching the sister tunnel and peering down it. There was nothing but a void blackness, and yet the urge to proceed rang through his mind. “Let’s go this way.”_

_Philza hesitated. “Are you sure?”_

_“I’m sure.” Dream nodded confidently._

_The rest of the group stayed mute as Philza and Dream looked upon them for a decisive utterance. Seeing no one agree with him made Dream deflate, but Technoblade stepped forward._

_“I agree with...”_

Technoblade blinked in surprise as the yellow streaked insect abandoned him and flew in the direction they came, disappearing beyond the light of the travelling flame.

“What did you see?” Philza asked, slowly guiding the group forward once again.

“Two tunnels. You and Dream had opposing ideas on which one we should take,” Technoblade explained. “I’ll tell you what happened once we get there. I need to be sure I’m picking the right tunnel without affecting either of your decisions.”

Philza nodded in agreement and looked beyond the stretching light, a suppressed sigh behind his pursed lips. “I really hope Wilbur and the others are okay,” He said. “They don’t have a fire with them.”

“I don’t think it’s a matter of hoping they’re okay,” Technoblade stated. “More a matter of hoping Wilbur doesn’t end up feeding one of them to the Wendigo for helping him lose his shit.”

A loud laugh rang down the tunnel, drawing forth the attention of many cannibalistic creatures lingering in the shadows, and another not so cannibalistic, yet even more feral, beast.

———————————————

“Wilbur, Tommy,” A small voice beckoned. “Wake up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I like the idea of Techno with braided hair. If you don’t, ignore any following input of his hair, though there isn’t likely to be much of it.
> 
> 2\. Spanish is not my strong suit —Nor is any other language that isn’t English, for that matter— so if I got what Quackity said wrong, you now know why. He’s meant to have said “Stupid darkness” or something along those lines.
> 
> 3\. I’ve watched more than just a select few of them now, so I have a little more insight. I think that’s all for now. Again, happy new year! Bye for now! :)


End file.
